Ventilation: Ventilating the soil not only improves drainage but also makes roots and underground organisms breathe. Ventilation can be achieved with most of the methods that improve drainage.
Processability: Heavily clayed soil is hard to work on. To improve this, drainage methods can be used together with adding organic materials that the soil lacks.
Color: Color of soil will change depending on for how long it’s been worked on. While the color of soil depends on the kind of rock it originated from, the amount of organic matter also has an effect. It can be said that the dark colored soil has been used in agriculture for centuries. Dark colored soil absorbs the heat faster and it will lose it slowly. This means they start getting warmer earlier in Spring. As such, improvement of color means darkening it. In old days, this was done by adding ventilated ash to soil, but nowadays we use organic mixtures.
Water Holding Capacity: Soil with too much sand in it has too good drainage, water disappears before the roots can absorb it. To improve water holding capacity of soil, as much organic matter as possible must be added. This will improve the situation and let the roots absorb water when the moisture is low.
Many plants like good drainage without losing the water in soil too fast. This is especially important for plants that are harvested early. The ideal situation is when the minerals are surrounded by a thin layer of water and there is air between the organic materials. The roots will circle the minerals and they will be able to absorb the necessary nutrients and will be able to breathe.
Layers of Soil
The point of drainage is the removal of water and adding limestone and organic materials will make the clay become lumps and improve drainage. It can also be improved by ventilating or plowing the soil, depending on climate factors. If plowing is done in dry air, the clay will not stick to the machine and soil will easily be seperated to a sand like quality, easing the flow of water. Adding sand or pebbles might also improve the drainage of soil, but this will require a great amount of both. As it is expensive, that method can only be considered for small fields.
See Turkey !
In these hot summer days, melons are one of the favorite fruits of the Turkish people, who produce 1.8 million tonnes of melons every year. This places Turkey at the second in the world melon production, right after China, who produces 6.6 million tonnes. All this information is leading to this: We know how to grow quality melons, and now we’ll share our secrets with you.
First thing you have to do is to decide which kind of melon to grow. There are many varieties with different flavors grown around the world and your choice should suit your purposes and climate.
Overall, melons like hot or warm climates. The long growth period requires hot and sunny weather, too much moisture might cause fungal diseases. Clayed or acidic soil isn’t good for melons and it should be able to hold water well.
Melon – Cotton – Grain Rotation
A nice melon picture
To prevent diseases, you shouldn’t produce melons repeatedly on the same field. In Turkey, usually melon – cotton – grain rotation is used.
Before planting melons, you should plow lines with 2 meters of distance between them. On one side of the plowed lines, plant 4-5 seeds in groups with 75 centimeters of distance to each other. Then cover them in 5-6 centimeters of soil. In Turkey, this is done between 20th of April and 5th of May. The seeds will take root and slowly grow and you should see them sprout in 5 to 15 days. You should pull out the weak plants in every group and leave the two strongest sprouts. Later on, you should pull one of those, leaving only one.
Melons like organic materials, so it’s best to use fertilizer made from animal manure. You should apply this fertilizer in autumn, while preparing the field.
Drip Irrigation is Preferred When Producing Melons
While growing, the melon plants won’t require too much water. Actually, very little amounts of water will suffice until the fruits appear. When the fruits start growing, watering every 12 – 15 days will be good but make sure the fruits or the plant itself doesn’t get wet. Because of this, drip irrigation is preferred when producing melons.
Melons don’t require much attention, other than pulling out the foreign plants. Harvesting melons should be done in the morning, and you should immediately take the harvested melons to the bazaar or the depot.
These are some of the tips I’ve learned from my grandfather, whose melons are growing nicely. I hope you find some use among these.
